(1) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to interfacing a smart card with a data processing machine such as a personal computer. More specifically, this invention relates to a device for transferring data between a smart card and a data processing machine such as a personal computer via a standard disk or cassette drive.
(2) Prior Art
Smart cards are generally known in the art. These cards have physical dimensions substantially similar to the dimensions of the well-known magnetic-strip bank cards and typically incorporate one or more built-in integrated circuits. Additionally, smart cards generally have built-in contact pads, connected to the built-in integrated circuit, for interacting with a smart card reader. The built-in integrated circuit can be a microprocessor and a memory, a logic circuit and a memory, or just a memory. One of the advantages of smart cards over magnetic strip cards is that smart cards can be programmed and reprogrammed and, thus, can be reused.
It would be useful to use smart cards in conjunction with a data processing machine such as a personal computer, for example. The personal computer could be used, for example, for programming or reprogramming the smart card as well as for retrieving information from the smart card. However, due to structural and functional differences between smart cards and other conventional removable storage devices, such as floppy disks or magnetic tape cassettes, smart cards cannot be directly interfaced with conventional read/write devices such as disk or cassette drives.
Presently, a special interface is required between the data processing machine and the smart card. Current architecture for personal computers allows for interfacing smart cards with personal computers via a dedicated ISO 7816 Smart Card reader/writer device or a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) adapter. However, these devices constitute additional overhead because most of the existent computers are not provided with these type of devices. While typically personal computers are equipped with either a disk drive or cassette drive, due to the above-mentioned differences between standard removable storage devices and ISO 7816 Smart Cards, the existent drives of personal computers are not equipped for reading ISO 7816 smart cards.
It is, thus, desirable to interface smart cards with personal computers without changing the current personal computer hardware configuration. Moreover, it is desirable to provide the capability of using conventional disk or cassette drives, as already existing in personal computers, for reading or writing data from and to standard smart cards.